Another Santorini booby trap

In the Dutch magazine De Groene Amsterdammer, a progressive left-wing weekly, there was a piece on Avalon and Atlantis in volume 148, numbers 28-29. This magazine invokes the tradition of good analysis. Here it then stopped once. I miss source references to the bard Taliesin who wrote The Spoils of the Deep about King Arthur. The letters “Tal” also popped up in the name Atlantis. And I miss any reference to the Kritias and Timaios. The writer again capitulates to the customary claim that Atlantis would be the miniscule island of Santorini which is 35 square kilometers and lies above Crete. Surely no one believes that such a small island held tens of thousands of chariots and also deployed them against the Mediterranean coastal lands. Santorini is not in the sea near Gibraltar but far out to sea. Finally, the author inevitably mentions the volcanic eruption of the Thera volcano that would herald the end of Atlantis. However, Atlantis went down because of an earthquake. The academics do not make a big deal about this but fend off dissent by saying they want to present a scientifically sound story. That such a small island made the whole world tremble with fear and also had ten kings is out of all proportion. But the academics believe it. When it was established that the ten kings were descendants of Poseidon, the intellectual academic door was slammed shut. Atlantis was Santorini and thus out.

What matters to me is that the Atlantis debate, like most debates, is conducted by an Us-knows-us clique and outsiders with totally different views are barred. For a progressive world that promotes open borders, they are very closed-minded. Every nonsensical statement is taken seriously to explain the fall of Atlantis except…. a Biblical explanation… I emailed the editors and asked them where the writer of the opinion piece got the volcanic eruption of Atlantis from? I got no response from a left-wing progressive magazine that prides itself on being for freedom of speech and wanting to have the discussion with everyone.

The article is here: https://www.groene.nl/artikel/avalon-het-atlantis-dat-standhield

Also on the Atlantis forum: https://atlantisonline.smfforfree2.com/index.php/topic,38297.0.html